Staal trade overall. Cap relief and inserted a player into the lineup who was able to tqke his spot. A blue chip prospect in Domoulin who at some time should see NHL time and a 8th overall pick who the book is still out on.

All that combined is a great overall value.

Eaton was also runner up move. WHen you give up nothing and get a guy you plugged into the lineup and win 12 in a row?? Again not based on anything but value we got our money out of that deal. To bad his game went south in the playoffs.

When i look at the other moves, most were designed to get us the cup, we fell 8 wins short.... so i don't see the value in thoes.

I voted for the Vokoun trade. Although, I will say that it is a catch-22 because if Bylsma survives to remain as HC, he can thank Vokoun. Had the Pens gotten boat raced by the Isles, Bylsma almost certainly would be minced meat. So, if you're of the opinion that you want Bylsma gone, the Vokoun acquisition might not be as good as you think at first glance.

I'll pick Vokoun here because what happened is that he was brought in for one thing only, which was to provide quality depth in case Fleury started doing his crazy thing again. And guess what happened. Exactly what Shero had in mind. Vokoun took over and provided us with the kind of goaltending we expected in the playoffs. So job well done, Ray. On a sidenote, it's pretty sad we need to pay for an expensive 'backup goalie' because we just don't trust Fleury. Hmm.

I think jury is still out on Sutter.

Hard to judge the playoff trades for the 4 guys, considering what happened.

Sutter is a fantastic piece for the Penguins. He is a solid 3rd line center that fills the role of being a defensively minded forward capable of playing solid defense and being extremely effective on the PK. He has done everything he has been asked to do and has done extremely well. There is nothing anyone can truly complain about aside from goal scoring. Which is an insanely stupid complaint to have about a 3rd line center whose skill set is to stop goals first.

Thoes who are not familiar with the TV trade here is a little history. Well when Ray traded his 60 inch plasma and got a Dan Bylsmas 55 inch LED TV inreturn, in hindsight after the plasma wore out a few days later, sure this TV trade wasd a good one. Ray convinced Dan that a guy with the last name Bylsma should to have a Plasma TV. You can see them both on judge judy over the summer to see if Ray was aware the TV was on its last leg.

I went for Staal only because I think that move took a lot of guts and considering Staal turned our offer down, the fact that Ray still could secure what he did was GM genius. In other words, the Staal trade took mad skillz.

from a year ago, Paul Martin, enemy #1. Best trade; asking Martin about staying / going in Pittsburgh.And following Martin's request. He didn't act like "fans" after the flyers series.Shows to go ya, people and situations change.

shmenguin wrote:if he didn't trade staal, i think we most likely win the boston series. he leaves next year, of course, but we'd still be playing hockey right now.

I tend to agree with this. Great and necessary deal for the long-term, but I can't even count how many times this season I thought about how much better HCDB's system worked with Staal leading that third line cycle.

RisslingsMissingTeeth wrote:Considering the nothingness that Staal did for the Hurricanes, I don't think he would've changed anything here.

Well there was that one time where Sid was neutered, and Staal's line was a significant factor in us winning the series. Another way to say that is we don't win the cup in 09 if you swap staal for Sutter.

But you're seriously drinking the kool-aid (both pro-Staal and anti-Sutter), if you think that Staal's presence would have turned getting swept into beating Boston.

Eh, maybe. I guess I'm in the "it was an epic failure" crowd, so one guy may not have mattered. Though if one is in the "it was just bad luck/the series was really close" crowd, I think they should absolutely believe that staal would have turned the series.